Five buses departed Nationals Park for Oriole Park at Camden Yards on a steamy Monday afternoon. There were only 14 people on board each one for social distancing purposes; the passengers clad in face masks had been assigned staggered arrivals to avoid having to wait in line for testing under the stifling July sun.

It was all so the Nationals could play their first road game since Spring Training shut down in March -- an exhibition matchup with the Orioles -- and experience the new travel rules in accordance with MLB's health and safety guidelines.

“We came to the ballpark, got tested, left the ballpark at home, had our temperature checked again, got here, went through protocol here to get into the ballpark,” Nationals manager Dave Martinez said after his team’s 4-2 win over Baltimore. “This is something we’re going to have to get used to.”

• Box score

For a local matchup in which many members of the team would have driven their own cars the 38 miles to Baltimore, all instead took team-provided transportation. The first bus left Washington at 1 p.m. ET for the 6 p.m. game. (Martinez gave credit to Rob McDonald, vice president of clubhouse operations and team travel, for coordinating the arrangements.)

“It felt like something that you would normally do in Spring Training,” said starting pitcher Stephen Strasburg. “I was fortunate enough to experience [the old camp in Viera, Fla.], so there weren’t really too many close road trips. When you drew those cards, you knew you were in for at least a couple-hours bus ride.”

The Nationals played one home exhibition game on Saturday against the Phillies, and they will host the Orioles on Tuesday. But among the three scrimmages, Monday was their only glimpse into travel before their first road trip of the regular season, which is scheduled to begin on July 29 against the Blue Jays at an unknown location.

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Once inside the park, it was back to baseball for the Nationals. Strasburg, the No. 2 starter in the rotation, got the victory in his last tune-up before his expected 2020 debut Saturday against the Yankees. He threw 81 pitches over five innings, fanning six batters, allowing six hits and giving up one run.

Washington received its run support from a familiar source. After his postseason heroics on the road last October, Howie Kendrick continued to do damage away from Nationals Park. The 37-year-old rocked a Statcast-projected 427-foot two-run home run into left off Orioles starter Alex Cobb in the fourth inning. And he wasn’t done there, adding an RBI double in the seventh inning.

Without fans in the stands, the Nationals didn’t have to combat the element of playing in front of an away crowd. They still prefer to compete in the familiarity of their own park, though, where they will play their first five games of the regular season beginning with Opening Day on Thursday.

“It’s different,” Martinez said. “I was a fan today, though. I cheered really loud today. I tried to be as loud as I could. But that’s going to be part of it. The whole thing is leaving your ballpark. We like being at home. Going on the road is always tough, especially when you’ve got to get on a plane, sleep in a hotel.

“But for me, we’re all on a level playing field. We’re going to go out there, we’re going to go 1-0 every day and compete.”

Up next
The Nationals and Orioles will trade locations and merge from I-95 onto I-495 in order to square off at Nationals Park on Tuesday, live on MLB.TV. Lefty Patrick Corbin is slated to get a tune-up start opposite O's righty Kohl Stewart in the teams' final exhibition game, with first pitch set for 6:05 p.m. ET.